TRENTON — The scandal over the closure of lanes to the George Washington Bridge has put on hold plans to elect new leadership at the New Jersey Republican committee, which is essentially Gov. Chris Christie’s fundraising arm.

The state committee decided in a conference call Wednesday night that Vice chairwoman Lynda Pagliughi will continue to lead the organization in an acting capacity until it can hold internal elections, The Star-Ledger has learned.

A date has not yet been set, but the party’s bylaws say it must happen in early February, spokesman Ben Sparks said.

On Jan. 7, the state party sent out a press release announcing that Sam Raia would step down as chairman, and that Christie wanted his former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, to take the helm.

"I’ve asked Bill Stepien to be our new State Party Chairman because no one better understands how to grow our party, communicate our message and, most importantly, win elections,” Christie said in the statement. “Bill Stepien is the best Republican operative in the country, and New Jersey Republicans will be fortunate to have him leading our Party."

The next day, emails surfaced connecting Stepien to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s plan for a traffic jam in Fort Lee. That night, Christie has said, he stripped Stepien of the chance to lead the party as well as his consulting gig at the Republican Governors Association. Christie is RGA chairman this year.

Raia, who served for three years, stayed mostly out of sight even as the NJGOP exceeded its Democratic counterpart in fundraising, sent a sizable delegation to Tampa for the Republican National Convention in 2012 and helped re-elect Christie by historic margins.